The Art Institute of Chicago has recently announced Dr. Jacques Schuhmacher’s appointment to the role of Executive Director of Provenance Research. Schuhmacher will oversee the provenance team, which was officially founded in 2020. He is also set to lead the museum’s provenance initiatives for its entire collection, including expanding the museum’s existing provenance research practice while coordinating this work with specialists across the museum.
Provenance is the process of recording a given work’s journey from its origin to its present location, which includes noting any and all previous owners of the work. Its ultimate goal is to help museums make sure the objects they collect meet ethical and legal rules.
Museums are often on the lookout for more vulnerable works, including European art collected between 1933 and 1945, when Nazi Germany looted Jewish collections; archaeological artifacts collected before 1970, when the United Nations passed rules protecting the world’s cultural heritage; and works taken from colonized nations from the 19th and early 20th centuries, as colonial powers looted works from the regions they colonized.
In establishing provenance for a given work, art curators and historians are able to provide more context for said work. This allows them to uncover stories that could include a time when the piece belonged to a larger collection or a famous collector.
Schuhmacher joins the museum from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) where he operated as the museum’s Senior Provenance Research Curator. While at the V&A, he led research efforts for the entire collection’s provenance. Additionally, his work has involved a number of repatriation and restitution cases, such as the return of a golden ewer from 2,000 BCE to Turkey.
Given his accomplishments, Shuhmacher has stood as a leader in the field, having published widely on matters concerning provenance. He also co-founded a working group for provenance experts to share information across museums in Europe and the US, growing from a team of 25 to 130 individuals.
Sarah Guernsey, Deputy Director and Senior Vice President for Curatorial Affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago noted how “Jacques’s hire reflects the museum’s decades-long commitment to engage in deep, rigorous research of the works in our collection. We are thrilled that Jacques will bring his expertise to the Art Institute to build on our leadership in provenance research, help us continue living up to our commitment as an institution, and share this work across the entire field.”
While working in the UK, Schuhmacher served on a wide range of working groups, including the Arts Council England (ACE) Steering Committee which oversaw the development of new patriation and restitution guidance for the sector, the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) Spoliation Working Group to coordinate the UK’s national provenance research, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Illicit Trafficking Working Group. He also did not-for-profit work as a researcher for the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, focusing on recovering property from the World War II era.
Jacques Schuhmacher states, “I look forward to bringing my experience to the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute has demonstrated a commitment to this type of work for years, and I am thrilled to collaborate with museum leadership as well as the curatorial and conservation teams to continue this exceptional commitment to provenance across the entire institution.”
Schuhmacher studied Modern History at Berlin’s Humboldt University and Oxford’s Somerville College. His doctorate in History is from the University of Oxford where he served as Co-Director of the War Crimes Research Network. He is to begin at the Art Institute on August 12, 2024.
